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* BP rejects paying businesses for harm not caused by spill
* BP must also face U.S. shareholder class action (Recasts to reflect Supreme Court appeal, adds comments)
By Jonathan Stempel
May 21 (Reuters) - BP Plc, seeking to limit costsrelated to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said it would askthe U.S. Supreme Court to review whether it must pay somebusinesses for economic damages without proof that the spillcaused such losses.
The British oil company will appeal Monday's decision by the5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans not to disturba divided three-judge panel's March ruling over the payments. It will also ask the 5th Circuit not to requirethat it pay businesses for economic losses during the appeal.
BP has complained that the settlement it negotiated to coverbusiness loss claims is being interpreted incorrectly by thebusinesses' lawyers and claims administrator Patrick Juneau. Itsaid making payments unrelated to the spill could push thesettlement's estimated $9.2 billion cost significantly higher.
"No company would agree to pay for losses that it did notcause, and BP certainly did not when it entered into thissettlement," BP said.
A spokesman for Stephen Herman and James Roy, lawyersrepresenting the businesses, had no immediate comment.
Dissenting from the 5th Circuit's 8-5 decision to let thepanel ruling stand, Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement said theholdings "funnel BP's cash into the pockets of undeservingnon-victims ... Another court surely must resolve this."
The April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizondrilling rig led to 11 deaths and the largest offshore U.S. oilspill. BP has taken $42.7 billion of pre-tax charges so far.
CLASS ACTION
BP's appeal was announced one day after U.S. District JudgeKeith Ellison in Houston let a group of shareholders pursue aclass-action lawsuit accusing the company of understating thespill's severity.
Ellison said investors who bought BP's American depositoryshares between April 26 and May 28, 2010 may pursue claims thatBP publicly "lowballed" the oil flow rate, and that the shareprice "did not reflect the magnitude of the disaster."
He also denied class certification to a separate group ofshareholders that claimed BP overstated its ability to managesafety issues prior to the explosion. Ellison said this denialwas because it was too hard to calculate damages.
Shareholders can often recover more money at lower cost bysuing as a group. BP's ADS price fell 37 percent from the startof the class period to the first trading day after it ended.
BP said it will appeal the grant of class certification, butcalled the dismissal of the safety claims, covering investorsover 2-1/2 years predating the spill, a "significant victory."
The lead plaintiffs are New York State Comptroller ThomasDiNapoli, who oversees that state's Common Retirement Fund, andthe Ohio Public Employees' Retirement System. Neither wasimmediately available to comment.
BP asked Ellison to delay a trial until after U.S. DistrictJudge Carl Barbier in New Orleans finishes the third phase of atrial, likely in early 2015, to apportion blame for the spilland award damages, including to federal and state governments. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additionalreporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
